Bealer has representation; plea delayed

Attorney Shon Northam announced Tuesday that he will be taking the job of representing Quentin Ray Bealer, 39, who has been charged with the murder of 14-year-old Red Bluff high school student Marysa Nichols.

He will be taking on all of Bealer's cases pending at the Tehama County Superior Court ? eight total ? with charges including possession of a methamphetamine smoking device, second degree burglary, receiving stolen property and possession of a controlled substance.

At Tuesday's court appearance, Northam asked for a 2-week delay before having Bealer make a plea entry in order to have access to the additional reports from law enforcement that are forthcoming.

?It's a part of the process,? Northam said. ?It takes time and a lot of work. The Pledge of Allegiance, which Judge (John) Garaventa has the audience say reminds us of the Constitution and that we have the best criminal system in the world.?

Asked if law enforcement had other suspects, Northam said he did not know as he had minimal information on the case at this point.

?I have some theories and some opinions and I will wait to see how they play out,? Northam said. ?My client has a lot of anxiety and stress and as you can see does not understand the charges.?

Northam said Bealer does not understand why after he voluntarily surrendered himself as the man of interest in a released surveillance video that he was then charged with murder.

?It seems highly unusual to me that a guilty person would say, ?Hey I'm the guy in the video',? Northam said.

At a March 12 hearing, Tehama County Superior Court Judge John Garaventa explained the proceedings and asked Bealer if he understood.

?Not really,? Bealer said. ?I don't understand why I'm being charged with murder when there is just a photo with a kid walking behind me.?

At the same hearing all of Tehama County's contracted public defenders and alternate public defenders declared a conflict.

Following that hearing, where Northam was announced as an option, Tehama County District Attorney Gregg Cohen said Northam would be paid under a contract similar to a public defenders with the difference being that it is only for this case.

Northam, who has been a criminal defense attorney in the Sacramento area since 2006 and is working with the Muto and Muto law firm on Child Protective Services cases in Tehama County, previously worked as a Deputy District Attorney for Tehama County District Attorney Gregg Cohen in 2000.

He said at the March 13 arraignment that his client is aware of his working relationship with the District Attorney's officer and that he knows Red Bluff Police Chief Paul Nanfito and has some knowledge of Tehama County law enforcement.

Bealer has expressed to him that he is comfortable with and wants his representation, Northam said.

?Those are the only issues I know of, but I have sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution and I believe in the Constitution,? Northam said. ?The Constitution guarantees that every criminal has a right to a trial.?

At one point in the March 13 proceeding, Northam said he was prepared to enter a not guilty plea on Bealer's behalf, however, that was changed to give him adequate time to familiarize himself with the case.

The case will be continued at 8 a.m. on April 3. Bealer is being held at Tehama County Jail without bail.

This is not Northam's first homicide case, having recently served as defense for a child who was acquitted of charges in Sutter County, and the entire process could take two to three years to get to trial, he said.

Bealer was arraigned March 6 for the murder of Nichols, who had gone missing Feb. 26.

The body of the 14-year-old Red Bluff High School student body was found Feb. 28, about a half-mile from the campus, between it and Baker Road.

District Attorney Gregg Cohen said the charge of one count of open murder allows his office to work on several different theories.

An open count of murder can be charged as felony murder, which carries a sentence of 25 years to life with the option of a special circumstance request for death penalty, Cohen said.

The other options are first degree murder, which carries a sentence of 25 to life and second degree murder, which carries a sentence of 15 years to life, he said.

We, as a society, lost a person who would have made a difference. I feel hatred for this man. I'd like to ask why he did this. If he had known her he wouldn't have done it. I want to see this man suffer as my daughter did.?

Now, he, her mother and the District Attorney's office will be the voice for Marysa, Nichols said.

?This is a travesty,? Nichols said. ?I'm still numb. That's why I had to come here. I'll be supporting my daughter and I trust the work that Red Bluff Police Department has already done. I have to go with the evidence, the police interviews, the search warrants and the DNA evidence.

I can't lose faith in their abilities on this case. Marysa was a human being. I don't want people to forget who she was. She was a wonderful person and I was blessed to have her. She didn't deserve this.?

Marysa was a beautiful person who ?when she entered the room made everyone feel better?, he said.

Nichols, 52, lives in Tulare, which is where Marysa lived until about five years ago when she moved to the North State, he said.

He first found out Marysa was missing about 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 26, the day she went missing, when her mother called his sister's home to ask if he had picked her up.

On Feb. 28, he was notified by Marysa's stepfather's brother that her body had been found and CHP officers and members of the Exeter Police Department responded to his house when he was notified.

?This never should have happened,? Nichols said. ?He is a monster in my mind. He doesn't need to be at the forefront.

Her voice has got to be heard.?

Nichols said he remembers how his daughter could not say bunny rabbit as a little girl and all of her stuffed animals became bunny rat.

?She will always be missed by her family,? Nichols said. ?I know how much her mother loved her daughter and her children. We're all devastated.

Faith is the only way we're getting through this. If the man who is found guilty had spent 10 minutes talking with my child it would not have happened.

She would have warmed his heart, warmed his soul and left him with the gift of happiness that she left with everyone.?

--- Staff Writer Julie Zeeb can be reached at 527-2153, extension 115, or at jzeeb@redbluffdailynews.com Follow Julie on Twitter @DN_Zeeb